Along the Natchez Trace

Monday, June 11, 2012

Monday Moaning, The Exhaustive, Err, Exhausting Search, OR, There Is a Storm Brewing

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Warning, Do Not Attempt to read this post without a freshly brewed pot of coffee, or your choice of caffeine, lots of caffeine.

GROAN!!

Recently, I decided to input one of Man's ancestor's adoptive parents. The father of this adoptive family has an interesting connection to Noah, no make that Daniel, Webster. More on that sometime in the future.

While I was doing the input, I decided I would like to learn more about the adoptive siblings. It seems that these adoptive parents adopted more than one child, and there is what appears to be one natural born child too. 'Appears to be' is the thing that got me exhausted last night (well, kept me up well past when I should have gone off to zzz land anyway).

Let's see if I can unwind some of this now that I am supposedly more rested. Somehow, I doubt I will, but, here goes anyway - -

We have John and Lorinda, parents that adopt Man's ancestor. I have two obituaries for John, one is more like a death notice, short and to the point, and names Man's ancestor and two others. John is referred to as "fond father". No mention of adoptions here.

I have a partial copy of a second obituary, a very long, chatty piece, from a newspaper believed to be the Lake View Times and News from the Chicago Illinois area. I have this copy due to the kindness of one of Man's distant cousins. She shared with me years ago, and has since passed. She shared much and I cannot be more thankful.

There is just one small little issue with the copy, (one issue other than I have no publication information, sigh) there are lines missing on my photocopy. Some look like someone cut the article on the wrong line, other parts look like they are seriously worn. Of course, one of the seriously worn sections is the section that covers the survivors. I can read the home town of one of the "adopted children", and it is that of Man's ancestor, but I cannot read the name. I can read most of the name of the second adopted child. Then there is a bunch more stuff that is lost. We pick up with, "of the surviving relatives are: George H. Webster.

And, it is George that is providing me with a very interesting search and causing me to stay up late at night, which of course, causes me to loose sleep.

I am having all kinds of trouble searching George. I have George on the 1870 census in Iowa with John and Lorinda, and Man's ancestor. George is found on the 1880 census with John and Lorinda, Man's ancestor has married by then and is living elsewhere. I have 'A' George on the 1900 and 1910 census, in Chicago with his wife and children. (I say 'A' George, because, well, keep reading - - ) I cannot find him in the 1920 census, I do find his wife in that year. I cannot find a death date, via indexes or whatever other means available. Have not found an obituary in the sources I have available from my desk and the internet. Have not found, well, maybe found, a burial place.

Ah, yes, it is confusing and muddled. Made all the more so last night when I realized that John, you know, the father in this family group, has a brother, Henry David Webster. John and Henry lived in Floyd County Iowa at the same time. I have some old family histories that indicate that Henry David married a Josephine. I found Henry, Josephine and two daughters on the 1860 census in Floyd County Iowa. 1870 Josephine is not to be found, I suspect she has died, as did one of the daughters.

I find family trees online that show that there is a George H. Webster connected to this Henry David Webster. So, I charge off looking for something that would substantiate this connection. This family tree also shows a George buried in, yes, Floyd County Iowa.

The phrase, ahhhhh, the tangled webs we weave, is resounding in my brain, screaming in my brain. Another thought is that this is a huge storm brewing in my brain matter!

I look at a lot of data bases, I charge here and there on the net, I do a lot of screen captures, I charge around some more. I continue to come up with lots of dead ends (pun intended) when it comes to George H. I can barely find ONE George H. and surely not two, the reported birth years of the George, son of John, and George, son of Henry, are extremely close, the birthplaces the same. ARGHHH!!

If you are confused, you should be, it is allowed. This is what happens when you are using old published family histories and family trees online to give hints on where to look. This might be a lesson in how NOT to research your family! LOL

And, then, in my state of exhaustion, my befuddled state of mind, a creative (??) light turns on and I wonder, did Henry David's wife die, and did John, his brother, adopt any children Henry had?? OH MY. They were living in the same county, Floyd County Iowa, at the same time. Could this be why it appears there are two Georges but, there really is only one??

I know, what a crazy thought, just one George??

See I also have the obituary for Henry David, aka H. D. Webster, who, it seems, died in Chicago, as did John Webster. Just so happens that the year Henry died there are images of the certs online, I go, I find, I study, and discover that Henry was living with John at the time. Hmmm, that's interesting. Henry's obituary states that he has a son, "George Webster, Chicago, who is now in Cuba..." (No, I have not investigated that yet, but, it does sound pretty intriguing, eh??)

So, both Henry and John are living in Chicago. Both die there. Both men's obituaries claim they have a son George from Chicago. I can only find evidence SO FAR, of one George.

Oh, you can believe this, I will be looking at this again, in detail. Exhausting and what may be exhaustive research will be the only thing that clears this up, one George, or two. And, all from the desire to input Man's ancestor's adoptive parents on my data base. A simple thought, turned exhaustive - -

There's a storm brewing:

* Oh, and just to toss in a bit more fun, George's wife's maiden name might be Bemis. John's wife's maiden name, is, but of course, Bemis. More chasing is indicated. Oh, and while writing this post, I found on the index of Illinois marriages before 1901. a George H. Webster, marrying in Cook County Illinois in 1893 to one Ida M. Pabst. Oh, yea, now that is what I need, ONE more name to chase - -

** So, of course, I chased it right over to FamilySearch, where I indeed found an image of that marriage license, and lookie here, MRS!

Moaning on a Monday Morn - - - More coffee please, better make that a LOT of coffee.

5 comments:

Wow, I'm exhausted just reading this. You are definitely a committed researcher, and I love this kind of research. Lots of challenges, lots of twists and turns. I can't wait to read how it all turns out. I'll have some coffee now too please.

It is cases like this that make us old before our time. I often find that when I have been stumped the answer will come to me in the middle of the night when my brain has rested and had time to process the information. Coffee is a good idea every day!!!

Count

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